Wednesday, April 26, 2006

I'm not sure this is a good idea

I Am Legend is reportedly being remade for the third time... with Will Smith as the vampire-hunting Robert Neville, previously played by Vincent Price and Charlton Heston. (Some discussion here.)

I suddenly have nightmare visions of the Fresh Prince exhorting a bunch of hip-hop vampires to "get jiggy wit' it." Or, almost as bad, a "cool", wisecracking action-hero version of the lonely, violently paranoid, nearly-psychopathic lone survivor depicted in Robert Matheson's classic novel. (Say what you please about Heston's politics, but his involvement in the NRA does make him more creditable as a survivalist and vampire-killer.)

I suppose one can always hope.

Late edit: Speaking of vampiric entertainment... critics seem to be unimpressed with the musical version of Lestat. I'd cut-n-paste excerpts of the Reuters article, but it's just too hard to pick and choose. Read it yourself.

1 comment:

Felix said...

Some Chick @ 4:35PM | 2006-04-26| permalink

I think Charlton Heston is the scariest looking person on the face of the universe. When he smiles, I know I will have nightmares. However, that hasn't stopped an unsympathetic B from making me watch all of the apocalyptic 70s movies he was in. I thought Omega Man was the worst of them all.

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Felix @ 9:01PM | 2006-04-26| permalink

I didn't say that the previous filmic versions of "I am Legend" were *good*. Just that Heston was a credibly scary survivalist-type guy.

Will Richard Matheson have the unenviable distinction of having authored a book that was made into *three* awful movies?

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Pablo @ 3:50PM | 2006-04-27| permalink

Will Smith played a gay con artist in Six Degrees of Separation. It's not his typical role, but he did a good job. If he's a more versatile actor than the parts he gets to play, he might enjoy something very different - and be good at it as well.

Oh yeah, he's made a lot of B movies, too. So it's anyone's guess.